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- Title
The Effects of Conflicting Dietary Information on Dieting Self-Efficacy and Motivation.
- Authors
Leung, Vivian Wei Lin; Krumrei-Mancuso, Elizabeth J.; Trammell, Janet
- Abstract
There are many different popular diet trends, each with different recommendations. Such a proliferation of often conflicting information is likely overwhelming, may lead to confusion about how to eat healthily, and may influence self-efficacy and motivation to do so. In the current study, relationships among conflicting dietary information, dieting self-efficacy, motivation, and gender, were examined in 194 undergraduate college students (Mage = 19.25, SD = 1.37). Participants randomly received information on either one recommended diet (MyPlate) or on multiple conflicting diets. We hypothesized that (a) people's level of motivation and self-efficacy for eating healthily would be lower when presented with conflicting information about healthily eating than when presented with consistent information about eating healthily, and (b) this difference would be larger in men than in women. Contrary to the hypothesis, consistency of diet information did not affect self-efficacy (p = .81, ηp² < .01) or motivation (p = .75, ηp² = .001). However, men showed lower intrinsic motivation to eat healthier than women (p = .02, ηp² = .63), regardless of the consistency of information. Interestingly, those who viewed only one recommended diet (MyPlate) reported feeling more overwhelmed than those who viewed multiple conflicting diets, p = .001, ηp² = .06, which could be explained by a lack of familiarity with MyPlate. These findings suggest that receiving conflicting information does not detrimentally affect motivation and self-efficacy to eat healthily, but that familiarity is an important variable for future consideration.
- Subjects
SELF-efficacy; UNDERGRADUATES; INTRINSIC motivation
- Publication
Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 2019, Vol 24, Issue 4, p246
- ISSN
2164-8204
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.24839/2325-7342.JN24.4.246